Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill

# Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill Scotland's domestic abuse laws required modernisation to better protect victims and reflect contemporary understanding of how abuse operates. The previous legal framework, based on common law and older statutory provisions, failed to capture the full spectrum of abusive behaviours and did not adequately recognise coercive control—a pattern of behaviour designed to dominate, intimidate, or isolate a partner. This bill sought to create a comprehensive statutory offence that would enable prosecutors and courts to address domestic abuse more effectively and provide clearer protection for those experiencing harm in intimate relationships. The legislation introduced a new statutory offence of domestic abuse, defined to encompass physical abuse, harassment, threatening conduct, and importantly, patterns of coercive or controlling behaviour. The bill established that abuse could be perpetrated by current or former partners and applied to both heterosexual and same-sex relationships. Key provisions included provisions allowing evidence of patterns of behaviour to be led in court, enhanced sentencing considerations for domestic abuse convictions, and measures to support victims through the criminal justice process. The bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament and received Royal Assent in March 2018, coming into force in December 2018 with the new offence creating a single, unified approach to prosecuting domestic abuse cases in Scotland.

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